Chapter 1: The Context of Special Education: A Time of Opportunity

The Essence of Disabilities

• What is a disability?
• Is having a disability necessarily a handicap?
  • Martha's Vineyard
• Is the notion of disabilities a modern-day invention?
• How have people with disabilities been treated over the course of history?
  • Middle Ages
  • Nazi Germany
  • Third World and developing countries
  • America Today
• There is no absolute definition of disability
• Outcomes are influenced by bias and discrimination
• Disabilities have existed since the beginning of time
• Cruel treatment continues today

The Origins of Special Education

• 1799: Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard, the Father of Special Education, and the "wild child" Victor
• 1846: Edward Seguin, The Moral Treatment, Hygiene, and Education of Idiots and Other Backward Children
• 1876: American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR)
• 1817: Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet brought experts in deaf education to the US
• 1832: Sam Gridley Howe founded the New England Asylum for the Blind (later the Perkins Institute)

Availability of Special Education

• Public special education classes were not widespread due to:
  • Limited number of classes
  • Exclusion by public schools
• Residential schools became warehouses

Prevailing Attitudes

• People with disabilities were viewed as the source of problems in society
• Primary purpose of programs shifted from providing intensive education to protecting society from individuals who were different
• Beattie v. Board of Education, 1919
• State supreme court excludes a young boy with cerebral palsy because he:
• "produces a depressing and nauseating effect upon the teachers and school children."

Changing Attitudes

• Attitudes changed during the last half of the twentieth century due to:
  • Increased opportunities at the end of WWII
  • Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s
  • Advocacy for people with disabilities in the 1970s

Federal Laws

• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 1973
• PL 94-142 Individuals with Disabilities Act (EHA), 1975
• PL 101-476 Individuals with Disabilities Education (IDEA),1990
• Americans with Disabilities Act ( ADA ),1990
• PL 105-17 IDEA,1997
• PL 107-110 No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (ESEA), 2001

Defining Special Education

• The US Department of Education stated in its regulations, that special education means:
  • "Specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parent, to meet the unique need of a child with a disability, including instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings; and instruction in physical education." (1999, p. 12425)

Eight Fundamental Provisions of Special Education

• Free appropriate public education (FAPE)
• Parental rights
• Individualized education to all students with disabilities
• Related services
• Individualized assessments
• Individualized education program (IEP)
• Least restrictive environment (LRE)
• Federal assistance to school districts

Language and Sensitivity

Two basic rules:

• Put people first
• Do not make the person equal the disability

For example:

• Do say, "students with mental retardation"
• Don't say, "mentally retarded students"

The Controversy of Special Education

• Concerns that need to be resolved:
  • Special Education
  • Is ineffective and unnecessary
  • Is discriminatory
  • Segregates children from peers
  • Serves too many children
  • Is too expensive
  • Unequally protects children who present discipline problems
• What are some solutions to problems faced by students with disabilities and educators charged with meeting their needs?
• Special education needs to:
  • Create responsive, flexible, and creative solutions
  • Form partnerships with parents and students
  • Develop goals for the field including its purpose, outcome expectations, and standards
  • Apply scientifically-validated approaches, methods, and practices